Burnet Woods, Diggs Fountain Plaza, nameless fountain

Before all the trees are bare and Cincinnati turns a relentless shade of gray, make sure you take time to stroll through Burnet Woods and around the fountain plaza in Clifton.




It's difficult to find a lot of information about this beautiful fountain-- I stumbled upon an article from 2002 talking about construction of the fountain, and while it names both the garden and the surrounding plaza, the fountain is only described. This article goes on to call her "the new Clifton fountain" and "the best semi-naked woman in public," and as of yet I haven't found anything that gives her a name. A shame, isn't it?

I hadn't realized the fountain was that new-- only seven years old? Shows how much time I used to spend in Clifton. Now I can't imagine walking to the Esquire without seeing her.

Poll: $100 donation to a Cincinnati cause

In the past few years, I've managed a couple of other blogs that ran basic text ads on them. When I specifically ran them on my Year of Philanthropy blog, I promised I'd put any money I made off the ads toward something charitable.

Google doesn't cut you a check until you reach $100, though... and after essentially forgetting about the account, a check showed up in the mail today.

So! Tell me where to put the money!

There is a poll in the middle column of this blog, right under the RSS link and search bar. I've listed 6 off-the-top-of-my-head suggestions:

• WVXU, which I listen to every single morning and could scarcely live without
• Freestore Foodbank, which helps feed Cincinnati's hungry and poverty-stricken
• Cincinnati Historical Society, which I feel is rather self-explanatory
• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a point of pride for Cincinnati
• Cincinnati Parks, because I particularly take Krohn Conservatory for granted
• Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church, my spiritual home

Alternately, you are welcome to write in an additional option, which will count for a vote. Simply leave a comment on this post (the button is at the TOP of the post, which is stupid) to do so.

This poll will run until next Friday (October 9th) until noon. Thank you for your input and I'll share the results in a little over a week!

P.S. [edit] If the poll gets 100+ votes, I'll double the donation.

Kentucky Symphony Orchestra; Devou Park

I've been in Chicago for most of a week, both for business and pleasure. Luckily, I am backlogged on Awesome Cincinnati Things. Huzzah!

In a previous post, I mentioned that Dan & I recently spent a weekend dog-sitting. The night after we took Tonks to Eden Park, we attended a Kentucky Symphony Orchestra performance at Devou Park. (...Which is actually in Kentucky. I'm counting it. "Greater Cincinnati Re-adventure" was a bit on the long side.)

The concert, part of their summer series, was boogie-themed and whimsical. There was a great turnout, with people in camp chairs sprawled all over the bandshell area and kids dancing in the grass. The weather was perfect again, despite a handful of aggressive bugs.

Devou Park has the best view of Cincinnati that I've ever experienced, but I'd never been to the park and bandshell areas before. The park has a lot more to offer than I'd seen before-- though if you're getting married, the building facing the river (Drees Pavilion†) is still the place to do it.

†Thing I just learned about Drees Pavilion: Drees built and donated the pavilion to commemorate its 75th anniversary. Now any money the Pavilion makes off of wedding fees and etc. go to the park. Swank!

As You Like It; Eden Park

This is Tonks. (And Dan.) She's not mine. (He is.)

Tonks belongs to friends of Dan's. As I'm pretty desperate to have a dog of my own, I'd spent plenty of time beforehand planning a whole weekend of dog-friendly activities for Labor Day weekend, when we'd be Tonks-sitting.

The first one was a trip to the Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park to see Cincinnati Outdoor Shakespeare's production of As You Like It. Unfortunately, as far as the production goes, I can't tell you much. The 3 of us sat way in the back of the pavilion, so as not to bother other theater-goers. (The precaution was completely unnecessary; Tonks was an angel.) I couldn't hear much of the production, and I spent most of our time there pulling sticks from Tonks' mouth or telling friendly children that yes, you can pet her and no, she won't bite your face off. As far as I know.

But the Seasongood Pavilion was lovely, as was all of Eden Park. We had incredible weather and a few of the trees had started to turn toward autumn.

We spent a little time with Tonks at Mirror Lake afterwards... or we would have, but she wasn't havin' it. She was well-behaved, quiet and friendly... but had zero interest in that ramp and the empty pool it led into. Guess I can't blame her.

Thing I just learned about Eden Park: it was designed by landscape architect Adolf Strauch,who also designed Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery.